The Sirius Black! a Marauders story
by MGO
Summary: On Hiatus till I get inspiration! Finally Sirius is going to Hogwarts, away from his hated family, to freedom... Follow Sirius through his life at Hogwarts, from the first train ride, through the pranks, girls and love, till he dies defending Harry. Rating will be changed when needed!
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, I'm trying something new... the first chapter of what I hope will be Sirius's life...I'll write faster if people like is. So Review! tell me what you think...**

**Note: _Italic words are Sirius's actual thoughts..._**

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**1. A train to freedom.**

"Sirius! Sirius Black! Get here!" Mrs. Black's high voice shouted through the house. She had been searching for her son, her trouble child. It had been a good behaving boy but ever since that stupid party three years back at the ministry her son wasn't a real Black anymore. He was becoming a disgrace to the noble house of Black. Now she was searching for him, wanting him to join her and his father so that they could once again remind him of the expectations they had..

"Sirius Black, if you don't get down here right now, you won't be going to Hogwarts!" Mrs. Black tried the ultimate threat.

"Coming, coming." Sirius shouted down the stair. He had been up in his bedroom finalizing the last details for a prank he and his best friend were going to pull on a bunch of students in the Hogwarts train. This interruption was particular annoying as he was finally getting the hang of the jelly-leg hex. He had been practicing on a lost mouse for the last two hours.

When Sirius reached his mother at the bottom of the stairs he realized that he wouldn't be back to practicing any time soon. He knew what was coming and felt already sick.

"Have you packed everything for tomorrow?" Mrs. Black asked.

"Yes, mother." To be completely honest, Sirius had been packed for weeks, ever since his mom had taken him shopping in Diagon alley. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts, to be with his best friend and enjoy the freedom. He was already sick of this house, of his parents and of his brother, who had been nothing but a pain in the ass with his sucking up to their parents. The so well behaved Regulus Black.

"Good, now come, your father and I want to go over some very important details about your education at Hogwarts."

Grumbling, Sirius followed, he knew no good would come from these conversations with his parents. Trying to stay calm Sirius breathed deeply through his nose. He had a temper and he knew it, more importantly, if he wanted to go to Hogwarts he would have to keep his temper under control.

"Sit." His mother barked.

He did as he was told. Kreacher, the very young house-elf served them tea, Sirius's younger brother Regulus sitting at the other side of the table.

"Sirius, we wanted to talk to you about going to Hogwarts. We want to make sure that you will keep the noble name of Black in honor." His father started. Sirius had already difficulties to control some kind of gagging motion but he fought hard. '_only twenty-four hours left and I'll be free_' Sirius kept reminding himself.

"Now, your cousin Bellatrix is doing a formidable job at Hogwarts, she is scoring very high grades for the important subjects, is a real Slytherin, and doesn't associate with mudbloods or blood traitors. Just like her parents told her too. We expect the same from you. So rules are, you make sure you'll be in Slytherin house."

_Certainly not!_ Sirius thought.

"Good grades, no fooling around."

_That's a lost cause._

"No contact, or as minimum as possible with mudbloods and blood traitors."

_Can't do that, James's parents are the biggest blood traitors._

"And last, Bellatrix will keep an eye out for you. She'll help you if you need it and she will keep us informed about how you are doing."

"I think I can do perfectly fine myself, thanks, I don't need to be baby sat by Bella." Sirius decided to speak up.

"Sirius Black! How dare you speak to your father like that!" his mother screeched. "You are to follow our rules and not to disgrace the family name or you'll be in big trouble."

Sirius never made that promise, he just kept his thoughts to himself and his mouth wisely shut. Tomorrow he would be on the train, with his best friend, getting away from the hell-hole he was supposed to call home. By tomorrow night he hoped to be a Gryffindor, secretly he hope the perfect Bella would write his mom about it, maybe they would leave him alone after that.

After a long icy silence, Sirius excused himself with the pretences of forgetting something that should be in his trunk. Luckily his mom allowed it and he dashed up the stairs. He pulled up his bed and grabbed the stacks with letter from underneath it. These letters that had literally prevented him from going crazy, but they also opened his eyes to a complete different family situation than his. The Black family was all about pure blood and status, there was no room for love and attention. James's letters had showed a different world, James's parents loved their only son, his father was an auror and his mother an assistant healer at St. Mungo's. they didn't care about the purity of blood or the status you carry, they only cared about their son and his happiness.

James was their only child, and Sirius considered James a bit spoiled. The letter told him about James getting a very good racing broom for his eleventh birthday and about the gifts his mother would buy for him when ever he asked. Secretly Sirius was a little jealous, it was hard not to be, but he knew that everything would work out for the best.

Sirius and James had met at that party three years ago. That party his mother wished she had never taken Sirius to. The new minister for magic, Garry Thickle, had thrown a party to celebrate his election. He had invited all high ranked ministry employees and other important persons. Being a Black, his parents were invited, somehow being a pure blood was still important in the ministry. They had taken Sirius with them to show off the next generation of Blacks. James's parents had brought him for a different reason, his father thought it would be good for James to see how to behave in the company of well-known witches and wizards.

Sirius and James had spotted each other and bonded instantly. Both bored to death they talked about jokes they had pulled and about going to school. They thought alike, and they both loved Quidditch. Somehow, somewhere during that party they got brave enough to try out a prank on the guests. It backfired a bit as Mr. Potter immediately know who was behind it and both the boys got send home.

Still Sirius had a friend, somebody who loved to plan a prank like him. So when Sirius turned eight the next week he asked his uncle for an owl, his parents didn't do presents but his uncle was the complete opposite of his father and loved Sirius like his own and always got gifts for him. His uncle lived abroad but every year when it was Sirius's birthday he visited the Black house. Only staying long enough to wish him a happy birthday and watch Sirius unpack his gift. Sirius suspected that his uncle just couldn't stand to stay any longer around his parents.

The owl he got, a black with gray colored owl, made a lot of miles over the last three years, James and Sirius wrote each other almost daily. Sirius made sure that his mother never noticed, the Potter's were in her eyes the worst blood-traitors ever, she wouldn't like it very much if she found out her son was writing to a Potter.

The letters slowly became a life line to a normal happy existence. James told all about his life in his letters, also about the fun he had with his father when they would observe muggles in their free time, about an old neighbor that had her niece over as a guest and how pretty the girl was. Also about life in a village full of wizards and witches. Sirius read about a meeting James's father had with professor Dumbledore at their house. James's life sounded so interesting.

Later the letters became about school and they discussed houses. James was sure he would be a Gryffindor but Sirius feared he would be placed in Slytherin. One of James's reaction to Sirius's writing about his fears, he would never forget.

"I asked my dad, he says sorting isn't based on blood but on personal character and qualities. So I don't think you should be too worried, you are anything but a Slytherin."

Those two lines had been what Sirius needed to even dare to go to school, for tomorrow becoming a Slytherin would be the worst, anything else he could live with. He would be happy in Huffelpuf, but if it was Slytherin he would probably ran away.

Over the last few weeks James and Sirius had been writing about what to do when they would finally team up and the ideas of pranks had been born. James had already a head start in the prank department as his father was known as one of Hogwarts biggest trouble makers of his time, a Potter legacy, he called it.

"_but Dad keeps reminding me that I have to do well in school, we have to figure out a way to do both, or they will home-school me."_ James had written in one of his last letters.

Sirius had not yet come up with an answer to that, they would have to see when classes started. James was naturally talented and he claimed Sirius would be as well, after all they were both the descendants of a long line of talented witches and wizards.

Putting the stack of letters in his trunk he smiled, finally, just a few hours left and he would be going to Hogwarts.

With his owl in its cage in one hand and in the other his mothers stone cold hand Sirius stood on the first step in front of his house, there where the muggles couldn't see them. He and his mom would apparate to the platform, his mother would die of shame if she had to walk through a muggle train station, so his Dad had arranged with the head of the auror office that they could apparate onto the platform. Sirius had almost retched when he thought about the amount of money his father had used just so that they could show how important they thought to be.

His trunk already gone, Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a second his felt like he was pressed into jelly, but then his feet hit the stone floor of the platform and he opened his eyes again.

The large red steam engine stood before him, it was like a dream. He let go of his mother and turned to look around, two compartments away he saw the jet-black hair of his friend, sticking out at all directions, just as he remember. He wanted to go to James but he her his mom clearing her throat.

"Now, behave and act like a Black." His mother snapped, she still was glaring at her son. The fight they had gotten in this morning was still brooding in her. Sirius had wanted to wear muggle clothing so he wouldn't stand out, but his mom had made sure he was wearing the most ridiculous looking robes. "A Black should be dressed like a pure blood. Making a good impression counts." She had shouted, and with a wave of her wand his muggle clothes disappeared and were replaced with black on black wizards robes. Sirius felt he looked like an idiot.

"Sirius Black! Are you listening to me at all!" his mother pulled him back from the memory of the fight.

"Yes, mother."

"Than what did I say?"

"Behave like a Black, make sure you're in Slytherin house, get good grades and listen to Bella." he recited, he hadn't heard her but he was sure that she had said something along those lines. It was like her brain got stuck on those words.

"Good. You'll be coming home for Christmas to attend the family dinner. Goodbye and behave."

Without further words his mother was gone and Sirius let out a sigh of relieve. Finally he was free. He quickly scanned the platform for his horrid cousin, but to his immense relieve she was nowhere to be found.

Picking up his owl and trunk he strolled toward the place where he had seen James. Lucky for him, James looked like his father, a lot, and Sirius could see the tall frame of James's father over all the other people.

"Yes, mom." Sirius heard James wail. A smile spread over Sirius's face as he realized that Mrs. Potter was giving James the standard mom orders.

"You behave better than your father did! If I get too many owls from professor McGonagall you'll be in trouble mister." Mrs. Potter threatened.

"Yes, mom."

James looked away from his mother's eyes when he made that lie. Sirius caught his eye and smiled at James. James looked relieved and waved for Sirius to release him from his parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter noticed the lone boy as well, with one long stride Mr. Potter stepped towards Sirius.

"Hello Sirius. Shall I get your trunk onto the train?" Mr. Potter offered.

"Yes, please." Sirius said. To polite and to lazy to refuse. He was surprised that Mr. Potter knew who he was but didn't say anything about it. Something you just have to except.

"Ah, you must be Sirius. It's very nice to meet you." Mrs. Potter said. Sirius nodded and took her hand politely.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Potter." He said.

"You boys are going to have so much fun at school." Mrs. Potter said excited. "Behave, and listen to the professors."

Mrs. Potter gave her son a kiss on the cheek and much to Sirius's surprised she gave him a short hug. Mr. Potter gave both boys a hug and ordered them onto the train as the whistle blew.

"Don't forget to write!" Mrs. Potter shouted as the train left the platform.

When the platform was out of sight James let out a deep sigh.

"Pfew, I thought she would never stop."

Sirius looked at James for an explanation.

"Mom have been teary the whole morning. Constantly muttering about how big her son got." James sounded annoyed.

"Could be worse." Sirius shrugged.

"Oh…was your mom that bad."

"Nah, more of the same nonsense. Get into Slytherin, keep the Black name high, be a good pure-blood. Don't associate with mudbloods and blood traitors. Like I said much of the same."

"I'm sorry." James muttered, Sirius knew he felt sorry that he lacked the loving parents James had.

"Don't be. I'm free now." Sirius said with a huge grin.

"Yeah, lets find a place to sit and celebrate."

"As long as it is on the opposite side of the Slytherins. I don't want to see Bella yet." Sirius shuddered when he said that name out loud. He didn't fear his cousin but he didn't like her. Maybe that was a bit of an understatement, he hated the beloved Bellatrix. The little Black princess. She was everything he despised.

"What will your family say when you don't end up in Slytherin?" James asked while they searched for an empty compartment.

"Don't know, don't care, really." Sirius shrugged, "Maybe they kick me out of the family."

Sirius sounded almost hopeful when he said that.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be with me in Gryffindor."

"My mom would like that!" Sirius laughed. "Lets sit here."

Sirius had pointed to a compartment which was almost empty. A small girl with red hair and pale skin was sitting alone staring out the window. She stared out the window and didn't acknowledged the two boys coming into the department. Sirius didn't care much, the red head could be shy or sad, either way not much fun. He sat down at the opposite side of the compartment, after a few seconds he noticed James was still looking at the red head. Sirius pulled on James's sleeve to get him to sit down.

"What?" James asked.

"You have been staring at that girl for too long. Lets sit and figure out how to have some fun."

"Oh…yes. Your ideas in your letters were brilliant." James said excited as he sat down opposite from Sirius. Leaning forward to start the prank discussion, every now and than Sirius noticed James glancing at the lone girl in the corner but he decided against teasing James about it.

With in second the boys launched themselves in the weirdest and best pranks. Because both of them had never seen Hogwarts before all discussions were theoretical and needed proper planning before they could be put to practice. Hexes on the other hand could be done on the train or at school at any time but before they got to discussing those the door to the compartment opened. A tall but sick looking boy stumbled in, followed by a small scared looking kid.

The red head looked up, but after a short second she returned to the scenery. Sirius did pay her much attention as he looked at the two boys, they were looking around skittishly, maybe not sure if they should sit down. Sirius decided that either these two boys could be fun as receivers of hexes, or maybe as friends, partners in crime.

"Hey, come sit with us, there is space here." Sirius invited the new boys.

"That's very nice of you." The tall sick looking one said.

"Take it while you can, Sirius isn't really generous with being nice." James joked as he held out his hand. "I'm James Potter, and mister nice guy here is Sirius Black."

Sirius hit his friend on the back of his head but laughed anyway.

"I'm Remus Lupin." The sick looking boy said.

"And I'm Peter Pettigrew." The small mouse like boy said.

"Wait, wait, before you sit down. Which house will you be in?" Sirius suddenly asked.

"Gryffindor, I hope but I'll probably end up in Huffelpuf." Peter squeaked.

"I'm lucky enough to be going to school, I don't mind as long as it isn't Slytherin." Remus said thoughtful.

"Good, now you may sit down." Sirius said seriously. "We can't go make friends with Slytherins."

"Good thinking mate, we couldn't have Slytherins around here." James said.

"I take it you two will be in Gryffindor?" Remus asked.

"I will, but Sirius here isn't in the safe zone yet. His whole family is Slytherin, his mom will disown him if he ends up in anything but Slytherin." James answered. It was met by Sirius loud laughter.

"You're not bothered by that?" Peter asked Sirius, looking like he was a madman.

"Nah, it's the quickest way to get rid of the lot of them." Sirius said still laughing at the idea of his mother disowning him. It would be a dream come true, he was sure it would never happen, his life just wasn't that easy.

"Do you two meet today, or did you know each other already?" Remus asked.

"We met at the most boring party in the world." Sirius sighed.

"Yeah, but we made it a lot nicer." James snickered. "Specially after you sprinkled the cake with salt."

"Or after you tried to tell your dad there was a troll in the bathroom." Sirius laughed. "anyways, yeah, we met at a ministry party. The celebration for the newly elected minister for magic. God it was so boring, but once James and I figured out how to have fun…"

"we got kicked out." James finished the line.

"Really?" Peter breathed in awe.

"Yeah, I think that the firework pixie did it. The minister kicked us out." Sirius laughed and James joined in.

The two boys told Remus and Peter about their letters and about how Sirius had to hide them from his mother. They laughed loudly about the jokes and hexes the two had come up with. Both Peter and Remus, were good allies to have Sirius decided. Sirius found out that Remus was a bit of a book worm, but that was very useful, he told them about spells and hexes easy to perform but good for jokes. For Peter he had no use, yet but the boy was nice and could be used as a decoy for the big pranks. Nobody would expect the mouse like boy. Sirius could see them all becoming good friends, if they got into the same house.

They were so deep in their conversation that they didn't notice the greasy hair boy sitting down next to the red headed girl by the window. Non of them noticed the girl crying, not even James.

"You'd better be in Slytherin." The greasy hair boy said very loud.

James's head snapped towards the red girl and was quickly followed by Sirius. It looked like the red head was crying.

"Slytherin?" James said questioningly. Sirius half expecting it to be an older student who was threatening the girl but when he looked closely he saw only a boy, a dirty greasy boy sitting with her. Sirius immediately knew he had found his guinea pig, he hoped that James would agree.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin?" James said to Sirius, hard enough for the greasy boy to hear, "I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

Sirius caught on immediately and played serious. "My whole family have been in Slytherin."

A line delivered by an already practiced actor, Sirius would have every teacher wrapped around his finger and he knew it.

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed alright." James joked.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got a choice?" Sirius repeated the line that they had spoken the first time they really talked about Hogwarts at the party. Sirius's antics where catching and James lifted an imaginary sword.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" he shouted through the compartment.

The greasy boy laughed, he actually laughed at James. Sirius boiled with anger, there was only one person who was allowed to laugh at James and that was his best mate, not that greasy slimy git. James was fuming too, Sirius could see his skin turn paler, bot boys had a temper and were about to loose it.

"Got a problem with that?" James asked sneering.

"No." the boy tried to sneer, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy…"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius scored the goal. James broke out in laughter, joined by Peter and Remus, who had been following their new friend closely, incase it came to dueling.

The red head wasn't impressed and glared at the boys.

"Come, Severus, let's find another compartment." She said.

"Ooooooo…" James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice.

When they got up James tried to trip the boy named Severus.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius called loudly, causing a laughing brake down in all four boys.

Sirius felt so happy, here he was on the train to Hogwarts, away for home, away from everything he hated, having a blast with his best friend and two new good friends. All he now did was praying that he would be in the same house as James and not in stinking Slytherin.


	2. The Sorting

_**Chapter 2...I wonder what people will think...**_

_**I know the Sorting hat's song will lack in it's usual splendor, but I couldn't find a better song in my imagination.**_

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**2. The Sorting**

Towing his trunk and owl behind him, Sirius jump onto the platform. Finally he was at Hogwarts. He turned to see if his friend needed any help but James was already next to him. They looked around waiting for Peter and Remus to join them.

"What are we going to do now?" Remus asked as he stopped besides Sirius. Thee saw horse-less carriages up the road, most of the older students where walking towards them.

"Maybe we should follow them." James nodded in the direction of the other students but before they could set off they heard a booming voice over their head.

"Firs-years! Firs-years over here!"

They turned to see where the voice was coming from.

"Wow." Sirius breathed.

"That would be an understatement, mate. That man is huge." James whispered equally in awe.

"That's Rubeus Hagrid, he is a friend of my father." Peter said. "He visits sometimes."

"What happened to him?" Remus asked.

"Dunno, maybe a charm gone wrong." Peter shrugged. "He's a sort of game-keeper, Dumbledore offered him the job, I think he is younger than he looks."

"Come on firs-years, hurry up!" Hagrid called again.

"What about my trunk?" James asked.

"They will be brought up just leave them with the rest." Hagrid called back.

The boys did as they were told and followed Hagrid down a muddy path. Soon Sirius's new shoes and robes were dirty but he did care. The girls did though. They were all complaining about it so loudly it started to annoy Sirius immensely. The girl next to him was particularly bad.

"Eww, these were new shoes. Mud and dirt. Us pure-bloods should be treated better, this is for mud-bloods and blood traitors." The girl said to her friend.

Sirius, who was already fed up with the whole pure-blood nonsense got angry and decided it was time to teach the puke face looking blonde a lesson. When the next large puddle of mud came he stepped in it with force. The mud splashed around covering him, Remus and James with dots of mud but the blond girl got most of it. She had drops of mud in her hair.

"Watch it, you scum." She yelled.

"Than you better watch your mouth." Sirius hissed and stepped up to walk besides Peter who was in front of him. James and Remus were chuckling and the girl turned away angry.

"Good one, Sirius." James called to his friend.

By the time they arrived at the end of the path Sirius's angry had been replaced by the feeling of expectation and joy. Soon he would be in the castle, waiting to be sorted, once that was over his life would be perfect or misery. '_Better it to be over with quickly_' Sirius thought to himself.

At the edge of a large lake, there were small rowing boats waiting, they could hold no more than four people.

"Enter the boats carefully and be careful when we sail I don't want to fish you out of the lake!" Hagrid called.

James, Remus, Peter and Sirius got in a boat together, it was a bit small but they could manage it mainly due to the fact that both Sirius and Peter weren't very tall.

"They don't expect me to row, do they?" James asked in disgust.

"A bit of physical activity won't be bad." Remus said.

"The only physical activity I'll be doing the next seven years is playing Quidditch." James said with his nose in the air.

"O, time to deflate the big head." Sirius said to his mate, "look around there are no oars, I'm sure magic will solve this one."

"pfff…" James let out a sigh as the boats indeed started to float forwards on their own. "I seriously thought they would have us work before school actually began."

Remus and Sirius laughed loudly at James's antics, but as they turned around the corner and the trees disappeared they fell silent. Everybody fell silent.

Sirius's mouth hang wide open and his eyes didn't blink. In front of him was the most amazing sight he had ever seen. The sight of Hogwarts, the castle outlined in the faint glow coming from the windows. It was massive.

All four boys were lost for words as the boats floated on, when they reached a tunnel they craned their necks to get a last look at the castle. Bubbling with excitement Sirius felt a smile spread across his face.

"This are going to be the best seven years ever." He breathed.

"As long as we don't get kicked out." James said.

"We'll be careful."

"and as long as you are in Gryffindor."

Sirius's face fell, the sour taste in his mouth and the anxiety returned in full force.

"Thanks, James." He muttered as he jumped out of the boat.

"Aww, come on mate." James said as he jumped next to Sirius. "Both you and I know that you'll be in Gryffindor."

Sirius smiled unconvincingly, he still feared the sorting. Worse he feared his mothers gloating if he did made it in to Slytherin, she would be so happy and proud. Sirius wouldn't be able to live with himself if he would be the cause of that. After many letters between him and James he had seen that this whole pure-blood Slytherin thing was complete madness, something he didn't want to be a part off.

They followed Hagrid up the stair, into a small room, where they were told to wait for the sorting. The four boys stood quietly in the corner. Sirius noticed James was staring at the red head again.

"She'll probably be in Ravenclaw, mate. Don't waist your time falling in love with her." Sirius warned him.

"I'm not falling in love with her." James snapped, "I'm just curious at why she want to hang out with that slimy Slytherin git."

"They look close, maybe they knew each other before the ride here." Remus offered.

"Probably." James agreed.

Next to Sirius stood a very small boy, for a second Sirius thought the boy was too young to even be there. The small boy was looking around him, his eyes wide. When his eyes fell on Sirius he quickly looked away.

"Do we look so young?" Sirius asked James.

"I sure hope not."

The small boy turned toward Sirius again, this time he had the nerve to speak.

"Do you know what happens with the sorting?"

James and Sirius looked at each other for a second, a small dirty smile played on Sirius lips and James nodded.

"Yes," Sirius said, "We will be called one by one to stand in front of the whole school. The headmaster will give you an examination and tell the school if you are worthy or not to be in one of the houses."

"In front of the whole school?" the boy chocked.

Sirius nodded.

"And what of he don't think you are worthy?"

"Oh, then the headmaster will hex you, and remove all your memories, they don't want people talking about this of course. It happened to his brother." Sirius said as he pointed to James.

The small boy swallowed loudly and turned as pale as a ghost. James and Sirius both managed to keep their face smooth but when the small boy quickly walked away the two broke out in laughter.

"I didn't even know I had a brother." James laughed.

"I didn't know, I knew how the sorting goes." Sirius chuckled.

"That was really mean, Sirius. Look at the poor kid." Remus said as he pointed to the opposite corner. They turned toward Remus was pointing, the boy in question had his back turned to them and was holding on to the door post. From the movements of his shoulders Sirius could see the kid was hyperventilating. Sirius caught James's eye and both roared in laughter, soon followed by Remus and Peter.

Sirius concluded Remus had no backbone, he was smart, he would be a guide to the boundaries they would walk. Remus was going to be the key to not getting expelled, he knew limits. Something that Sirius didn't even want to consider.

The door to the room opened and a stern looking witch in maroon robes entered.

"May I have your attention. Please be quiet!"

The whole room fell in silence.

"Thank you. My name is Professor McGonagall, if you will follow me, we will start the sorting."

They followed the professor out the small room into an huge hall way, it was so high Sirius wasn't able to make out the ceiling. At the end were steps that led up to two massive doors, behind it Sirius could here people chatting excitedly.

For a second he was afraid his own joke would be backfired on him, he really had no idea what happened during the sorting of students but he hadn't expected it to be in front of the whole school. James looked a bit in shock too.

Even by parents of other family member the way they sorted the students was kept a secret, they didn't want to spoiler it for the first-years. Sirius thought it was ridiculous, shouldn't people be prepared properly for what would be a life deciding moment.

When the doors opened, a second huge hall came into view. As they walked in Sirius saw that all the students were there. Four long tables, and one in front of them all.

"House tables." James whispered.

Sirius nodded but he was unable to speak, suddenly he got nervous. More nervous than he had ever been in his life. This was it, doom or glory, or maybe something in between.

In front of the teachers table stood a four-legged stool with an very old wizards hat on it. When all the first years stopped in front of it, the hat ripped open at the rim, opening something that looked like mouth. To Sirius's surprise it started to sing.

From dark days To magical light

_I have seen it all, _

_I witnessed every height._

_I'm old but very bright._

_Gryffindor created me, _

_To stop a friends dispute_

_It was to every headmasters delight_

_For what I hear you wonder,_

_Well, I sort you so that they don't need to fight,_

_I prevent a rift between friends._

_I create peace until this school end._

_I know what's in your mind_

_And I know what's in your heart,_

_Therefore I'm appointed to slice the group in four._

_I know when your bold and brave_

_Like Gryffindor should you behave. _

_I know when your ambitious and cunning._

_For Slyhterin you'll be running_

_I know when you have wit and a ready mind._

_Smart Ravenclaw loves that kind._

_I know if you're a hard worker and true._

_Dear Huffelpuf will teach you._

_So here I'm _

_That's what I'm for._

_Give it a go._

_So you can be welcomed in your house and say hello._

The sorting hat fell silent and besides the first-years everybody applauded. Most of the first-years watched the hat, trying to figure out what just happened.

"When I call your name please come forward and sit on the stool." Professor McGonagal said as she held the hat and a long list in her hand.

"This is it." James muttered under his breath.

Again all Sirius could do was nodded, he would be up very soon, and his legs were starting to shake. First up was the blond girl Sirius recognized by the mud splashes on her robes.

"Avery, Amilia." McGonagall called and the blond girl stepped forward.

Avery? So this was the girl his mother wanted him to marry, to keep the line pure, she had said when she told him this summer about the marriage she had arranged for him. Sirius snorted as he looked at the girl, _that would be very unlikely_.

The hat barely touched the head of the girl when it shouted "Slytherin!"

"Big surprise." Sirius muttered.

There were two more students before Sirius, both were sorted in Huffelpuf.

"Black, Sirius!" McGonagall called.

With a soft groan Sirius stepped forward, James petted him on the back but Sirius barely noticed, he was too focused on getting up the steps without his legs giving away.

When he sat down he saw the black curly hair of his cousin, she was sitting next to the Avery girl, a huge smile of anticipation covered her face and she winked at Sirius.

Sirius closed his eyes praying and hoping not to be in Slytherin. Suddenly he left the weight of the hat. And a small voice sounded in his ear.

"Hmm, a Black. But you are different from your family…hmm what house should you be in"

"Not Slytherin!" Sirius thought as hard as he could.

"Hmm, not…let me have a closer look…your family is doing so well in Slytherin. But you, you aren't very fitting for Slytherin…Let me see, there is loyalty and a brave heart, I think Gryffindor might be good for you."

And with that the hat shouted 'Gryffindor' loudly through the hall. Sirius let out the breath he didn't even knew he was holding. When the hat disappeared he got up and looked at James, he was laughing and applauding. Sirius quickly ran towards the Gryffindor table and was welcomed by the rest of his house.

Before returning his attention to the sorting he glanced over to his cousin. Anger and shock clearly covered her face. The anger was slowly taking over her face and Sirius knew tomorrow he would have to face his mother's howler, or maybe her in person. It didn't matter to him, he was now officially a Gryffindor, now all he had to do was to watch the sorting and wait for his friend to join him.

Sirius saw the red head they met on the train being called up.

"Evans, Lily." McGonagall called.

Looking very pale and nervous Lily took the steps and sat down. Sirius watched James as the sorting hat was placed on her head, James was very focused on this girl and Sirius had the sinking feeling that James would fall in love with her anyway. Maybe not now, being eleven wasn't the time to think about girls, but later.

"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted again. Lily Evans was a Gryffindor, James looked happy but the girl in question looked at her greasy haired friend with sadness. Sirius shook his head, all small problems, nothing they couldn't live through.

He made place for Lily to sit as he applauded for his new house mate, but she ignored him. Maybe she was still feeling a bit insulted by their joke during the train ride.

The sorting went quickly, three more girls were sorted into Gryffindor, Peter and Remus also joined him at the table before James's turn was up.

"Potter, James." McGonagall called.

Sirius winked at his friend as he quickly glanced at the Gryffindor table. James didn't look nervous at all, like a proud wizard he stepped up and sat down. McGonagall lowered the hat, it barely touched James's head when it shouted 'Gryffindor'. Sirius sighed in relieve and cheered loudly with the rest of the house.

The sorting was finished quickly, the slimy git, Sirius already disliked immensely was sorted into Slytherin, and soon McGonagall removed the hat and the stool from the center of the hall.

Silence fell over the students, as they all watch professor Dumbledore raise from his seat. His beard was starting to show great strokes of gray through the light brown, his hair was completely gray already, somehow Sirius though he still saw a twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes that made him look much younger than he is.

"Welcome to our new students to your first year at Hogwarts, and welcome to those I had the pleasure to meet in the seven years before this one. Before we start are feast a word of notice. Please note that the forests is forbidden for all students, some of our older students should remember that as well. Also any form of violence or inappropriate use of magic will be punished severely. We will not tolerate any of this, our head boy and girl will work together with the prefects to ensure the safety of all. Everybody should be in their common room at nine, after that the corridors are forbidden."

Dumbledore looked around to make sure that everybody got the message.

"Okay, now lets take this evening to celebrate an other year at Hogwarts."

When he clasped his hands food and plates appeared on the table.

"Wow." Sirius said as he looked at all the food. There was so many different kind of food that he couldn't choose. He decided to take a bit of everything and dug in. After all these years learning how to behave like a proper gentlemen, Sirius threw all manners overboard, he was in Gryffindor, he was not a real Black, he didn't care anymore.

"Dunno, I wonder what got Dumbledore nervous, the rules are very strict this year." Sirius heard an older student say.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked polite.

"Well this is the first time we got a curfew, also the warning against violence and all that, he never does that, normally he makes a joke and orders food on the table." The older boy said.

Remus nodded, "Oh by the way, I'm Remus Lupin." He said as he extended a hand. The older boy took it with a smile.

"I'm Frank Longbottom, I'm a third year."

Sirius, James and Peter introduced themselves as well. They talked with Frank and his friends for a while, mostly about Quidditch, Frank didn't play but he loved the game anyway. So they had quite a lot to talk about. When the conversation turned back to Dumbledore's speech Sirius noticed quite a few students were talking about it, apparently it was something really special.

When the plates were cleared, James nudged Sirius.

"Which Slytherin is your cousin?" he asked.

"The one that looks like she's about to hex me." Sirius said as he glanced at the Slytherin table.

"There any many, all slytherin girls scowl or look angry."

"Over there, the one with the black wild curls. Sitting between the blonds, the blond on the right side is her sister." Sirius waved at his cousins, they quickly looked away.

"They look lovely." James whispered dripping with sarcasm.

"Forget it a Black has their marriage arranged before they go to school, Bella is betrothed to Lestrange, dunno what he looks like, and the blond, Cissy, is betrothed to that blond guy who is wearing the head-boy badge, Lucius Malfoy."

"Wow, who are you betrothed too?" James asked as a joke.

"The blond girl next to Bella, Avery." Sirius growled.

"You're joking!" James sputtered.

"Nope."

"Really, and you are going to…"

"No! of course not. I'll choose my own bride, for that I don't need my mother." Sirius snapped.

"Wow, I didn't knew it was that common in pure-blood families." Peter whispered.

"All to keep the blood pure." Sirius said angrily.

"James, you're a pure-blood I believe, aren't the same ideas in your family." Remus asked.

"God, no. I'm not a complete pure-blood either. Somewhere down the line a Potter married a muggle-born."

"But she was still a witch, doesn't that count?"

"A bit, enough to not get killed or blasted out of the family tree, like Sirius says, but still those days it wasn't common. But my parents never arranged a wife for me, they wouldn't do that."

Sirius was about to make a comment on how spoiler James really was when Dumbledore stood up again.

"Dear students, we as teachers want to learn you a thing or two, so I think it's best you are all making sure you are well rested tomorrow. It's time for bed. Goodnight."

They all got up and followed the prefects up to the common room, Sirius felt too tired and too full to even consider to misbehave. He was asleep before he could change his clothes.

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**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Halloween

**I hope everybody will enjoy this...**

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**3. Halloween**.

Hogwarts was the best thing that ever happened to Sirius, of that he was sure. Even after only two months he knew that there wouldn't be a better time than he was having at Hogwarts.

It had started of a bit rocky, as he quickly became the boy with the howlers, thanks to his mother. After the sorting his lovely cousin had send word to his mother about the results of that sorting, his mother wasn't pleased. She had send a howler every day that first week, reminding his of the fact that he was now the shame of the family and that he wasn't welcome to join the annual Black Christmas dinner.

Sirius knew his friends were shocked by the fact that his mother reacted like this, but he wasn't too bothered. He just hadn't expected anything else from her. He had written her back, though, after the fifth howler, he just couldn't ignore her any longer. He wrote his mother not to bother with him until next summer and that he would stay at Hogwarts with Christmas.

"That would be even better, maybe I could stay here all year." Sirius had said with an airy voice to James when he noticed his friend looking worried at him. Honestly, the fact that his mother now rather denied ever having created a kid like Sirius didn't bother him at all.

These last two months he had seen that the whole pure blood thing was as he started to suspect completely rubbish. Muggle-borns and half bloods were just as good as wizards as him, Bella and James. The only difference was that the kids grown-up in a wizarding family knew a bit more about the world they lived in. He knew about the soft whisper of danger that was spoken of in the wizarding world. He and James knew the whispers about a dark wizard who was recruiting followers.

Something the muggle-borns didn't knew. There were only a few muggle-borns in his year that knew that there were even dark wizards that wanted to kill all muggles and muggle-borns.

After his letter to his mother the howlers stopped coming. Sirius secretly hoped his mother would just forget about him completely or would just go to ignoring him and let him be. His cousin had come up with an other tactic of making sure Sirius didn't forget his shameful sorting. She kept on pestering him about it, it was like she felt personally responsible for this hick-up in the family.

There wasn't a day that first month that Bella didn't pull him aside and told him to go to Dumbledore to ask about changing houses. This always ended up in a shouting match between the two of them, Sirius had already gotten in detention twice because a teacher found them shouting at each other, wands drawn and ready to battle.

In these cases having friends was really useful, specially having James as a friend. James had been living in utter freedom, his father and mother hadn't made a problem out of it when he practiced his magic during the summer. They had taken him to buy a wand the first day of the summer holiday and he had been using it ever since. James's father, the original prankster, even taught him a few jinxes. Sirius had to admit that he was a bit jealous about it, doing magic before starting school, or before coming-off-age even was something Sirius's parents had been strictly against.

After his second Bella-caused detention with professor McGonagall James suggested to teach Bella a lesson about mingling in things she should keep her nose out off. Sirius recognized the strange light in James's eyes and agreed. _This would be fun_, Sirius had thought to himself.

It had been the first Saturday of October when James and Sirius got their chance. Shortly after lunch the four friends had walked out to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch practice, to James's dismay he didn't made it on the team as Seeker, he was considered too young, but the boys still loved the game anyway and went to watch as much as they could. During that walk Bella had walked up to Sirius, she had grabbed his arm and started to pull him away from his friends.

"They aren't good friends for a Black." She had hissed.

Before Sirius could even reply James had stepped in front of Bella, his wand pointed at her.

"Sirius is allowed to hang out with his house-mates." James had sneered.

"House-mates?" Bella had hissed, "Only Slytherin's noblest are a Black's house-mates."

"If I remember correctly the sorting hat placed him in Gryffindor." James said calmly.

"A mistake, the sorting hat is losing his wit." Bella had spat angrily.

Bella's face turned red with anger as she tried to stare down James when he didn't reply. It was really funny to watch and even Remus, normally against all sorts of violence, had to laughed at Bella, James just didn't back down. The sound of laughter only made Bella more red with anger.

"Bellatrix Black, I know this might be difficult to penetrate that big inflated head of yours and I know it busted your little happy pure-blood bubble when I was sorted in Gryffindor and I also know that you miss my presence, but I'm a Gryffindor and it won't change." Sirius told her as he took his place besides James, his wand also pointing at his cousin.

Bella shuddered in anger as her eyes flickered between James and Sirius.

"You'll regret this." She hissed and turned away.

"Bella!" James called, "You're wrong."

With those words he waved his wand and muttered the curse, which resulted in one of the best bat-bogey hexes Sirius had ever seen. Screaming and cursing angrily Bella ran off.

"That would earn you some detention mate." Sirius said in awe.

"Nah, she won't go to a teacher, she thinks she's too good for that" James said as he turned back to the Quidditch pitch.

"We should watch our backs a bit more from now on, Bella's friends might want to take revenge." Remus said seriously.

"I don't think that's Bella's style, she'll try to get you back for that herself." Sirius told James.

"I'm looking forward to that." James smiled.

James's action did have the desired effect, Bella left them alone. The only unwanted result was a new wave of howlers from his mother. She wasn't to pleased with Sirius allowing his cousin to be hexed.

An other side effect of the whole encounter with Bella was that after they got away with hexing a student, no teacher had been involved. It had given them a boost of confidence, one they actually didn't need, but was useful to them anyway. Sirius and James, sometimes aided by Peter or Remus, felt free to use hexes and spells on Slytherins more often. It was like the lid was of the bottle and the champagne shot out. Specially Severus Snape was a victim of their new found power. For some reasons both James and Sirius disliked the boy very much.

With the Confundus spell, the Desaugeo curse or the Diffindo charm, Sirius and James made life at school a bit more difficult for the Slytherins. It happened more than often that a Slytherin found his or her bag ripped open, mostly that happened when the first year Gryffindor's walked through the same corridor.

Besides abusing their magic all four of them spend hours finding new charms, spells and curses that would be able to use. Their mischief making days had only just started, and specially Sirius wanted them to last forever.

The day after James had attacked Bella they had done one of the best discoveries in their school career. They had found out how to get into the kitchen. The four friends had been walking the corridors between their potions class and dinner when Sirius noticed a stairway next to the great hall.

"What's there." He had said as he pointed to the stairs.

"Dunno, I still get lost with the normal corridors." Peter said.

"Maybe the way to the Ravenclaw house." James mused.

"Lets have a look." Sirius suggested.

"Not again." Remus groaned.

"What?"

"You remember the last time you wanted to have a look, we never made it to dinner." Remus complained.

Sirius did remember very vividly their last excursion down a corridor they didn't knew. Sirius had been convinced it had been the way to the Slytherin dormitories but they never found it. Instead they got so incredibly lost in the small narrow maze of the dungeons that they search for their way back to the great hall for more than a hour, only to find an angry McGonagall at the end. She told them with a very stern voice that they shouldn't be roaming around the castle and should attend dinner when everyone else was. "Nothing good came from strutting the castle." She had said. That time she had bought the story about getting lost, but she warned them not to be seen wandering in the dungeons again.

"Oh, come on Lupin that was nothing, I'm sure there is no Slytherin down there." Sirius sighed.

"But if you are too big of a coward you can stay up here." Sirius challenged his friend. Sirius knew he was playing it dirty, Remus always gave in to the coward line, but Sirius really wanted to find out where that corridor lead to, he prayed it was to the kitchens which he had been searching for ever since the feast at the beginning of the year. With an deep sigh Remus gave in and the four buy walked down the stair into a long narrow hallway. Both sides were decorated with paintings, most about food.

"You know I think this leads to the kitchens." James breathed as he looked at the paintings.

"That would be awesome, but how to get in, I'm sure you'll need a password or something." Sirius thought out loud.

It was than that a house-elf appeared, it came into the hallway through a hole behind a painting of a bowl with fruit. When the elf spotted the four boys he bowed deeply and asked if he could be of service.

Sirius grinned widely and immediately asked the elf how to get into the kitchen. To all of their surprise the elf told them how to get in.

"Just tickle the pear and the door will open. We are happy to be at service." The elf said as he bowed deeply.

The boys had taken a quick look in the kitchen, Sirius and James already plotting what pranks to pull off with the food. Even Remus, who had quite a bit of talent for potions came with suggestion to alter the food destined for the Slytherins with a harmless but cute potion. The elves had offered them food and drinks but the boys agreed it was better to go up stairs and have dinner at the Gryffindor table.

It was how Sirius spend the first two months at school, exploring the castle, searching for new ways to get himself into trouble, and having great fun with his friends. Today it was Halloween and the four boys had planned their first major prank. The whole school was about to find out that it was no longer the save place they thought it was.

"Mate, are you ready?" James yelled up the dormitories.

"Yes, I'm coming. You know this whole thing would be a lot easier if we were sure no one would be able to actually see us go into the kitchens." Sirius said as he ran over their plan, it was full of things that could possibly go wrong and get them all into a long detention. Not that he really minded detention but he'd rather spend his time annoying Slytherins.

James's face lit up, a slow all knowing smile spread across his face.

"You know, we actually can." James said as he dashed upstairs. Sirius, Peter and Remus followed him, all confused.

"Can you all keep a secret, nobody is to know I have this." James said as he dug through his trunk. "My dad told me to keep this a secret but I think he never did when he was at school. Still no reason to gossip about it."

"What is it?" Peter asked curious.

James straightened and looked them seriously. "Only if you can keep this a secret." He warned.

The other boys nodded silently, their eyes focused on James. Slowly James pulled out a slivery fabric, it was shiny and old, when James held it up completely Sirius gasped.

"You have one?" he breathed.

James nodded with a grin.

"Why haven't you told me before?"

"Well, I just remembered I had it, my father gave it to me the day we left for school. He said 'use it wisely' and that it should stay a secret I have it." James answered.

"But what is it?" Peter asked, looking very confused.

"It's an invisibility cloak." Remus breathed. James nodded with a grin, he threw the cloak around his shoulder and over his head and disappeared completely. Although he expected it Sirius still gasped. His mind was running with all the new possibilities now that they could stay hidden.

"We'll have to hurry if we want our plan to work before the Halloween fest." Sirius said slowly.

"All four of us can fit under it. Lets go." James said, tucking the cloak under his clothes.

The boys crept down the corridors. Invisibility cloaks were very useful, when they would create one that could also stop you from making sounds, Sirius concluded. They moved agonizingly slow.

"Remus are you sure that you told us the right spell?" James hissed as they reached the entrance of the kitchen.

"Yes, just point your wand at the target and whisper the words, remember to whisper or all the food will be tasting off."

The entered the kitchen, slowly looking around. The golden plates on which the food was served were already placed on the tables. The elves turned to see who had entered the kitchen, bowing deeply they offered their services to the boys.

"I would like some tea and something to eat." Peter piped up, his job was to distract the elves so that the others would be able to jinx the plates.

"That's the Slytherin table, right?" Sirius asked for confirmation from James.

"I think so." James nodded.

"I think it's better to leave the teachers table alone, just the house tables." Remus commented, for once Sirius agreed, there was no need to pulled the teachers into this. If they were caught they would be in trouble enough as it is.

Working quickly the three boys jinxed all the plates, Sirius took care of the Slytherin table and helped James with the Gryffindor table. While Remus worked more quickly to do the Ravenclaw and Huffelpuf table. The had come to the horrible conclusion that they would have to jinx the Gryffindor plates as well unless they wanted to reveal the Gryffindors had anything to do with it.

After they finished their last spells they pulled Peter away from his tea and thanked the elves. Grinning widely the made their way back to the Gryffindor common room. Loud snickers erupted as they fell down in the empty chairs next to the fire place.

"This is going to be epic." James laughed.

Sirius had to agree he couldn't wait to see the faces of his fellow students when the food appeared on their plates.

"What have you been up to?" a girls voice sneered from behind Sirius and James. James immediately turned around, but Sirius already aware that he was going to face the hot-tempered red head wasn't so keen on arguing with Lily Evans.

"Nothing." James said as he tried to keep his face innocent.

"You are failing, mate." Sirius hissed at him, it made a grin spread over James's face that Lily couldn't ignore.

"You two have been cursing Severus again, haven't you." Lily hissed angry.

"No! honestly, we haven't been near that slimy git today." James said he sounded a bit shocked by Lily's accusations. Lily just glared at him and Sirius. Not able to resist it Sirius made a kissing sound towards Lily, it was something that always set her off.

She hissed angrily at them and turned away, leaving three of the boys rocking with laughter. Sirius did noticed that James didn't join them in their laughter but didn't pay much attention to it, James had been weird around Lily Evans from the moment he saw her. Sirius honestly could see why James was so fascinated by her, she was a pretty girl, she was very smart, very talented, she could be a great friend as she was loyal to her so called friend from Slytherin, but according to him that was where he major flaw was, she just didn't know how weird she was hanging around with a Slytherin all the time.

When it was nearly time for the Halloween feast to begin the boys headed down to the great hall.

"We seriously have to work on our expressions." Sirius muttered as he looked at James and Remus. Both boys were wearing a grin of anticipation on their faces that wrote 'guilty' all over it. Peter just looked scared, Sirius knew the small boy was deathly afraid of getting caught.

Sitting down at the Gryffindor table Sirius glanced around, he was positioned perfect, perfect view of the great hall. Allowing himself to grin slightly he caught James's eyes. There were full of mischief.

"If they find out we did it." Peter muttered, over and over again

"Peter, will you please shut up. If they find out we'll do detention, so what?" Sirius said with a sigh. Detention at Hogwarts wasn't really bad, not like when he got punished by his mom, that almost always hurt a lot. Until now for his two detentions Sirius had only done useful things, boring but useful. Like helping Filch clean out cabinets of things he had confiscated. Sirius had stolen quite a few things, the caretaker never noticed. Boring but definitely useful.

"Are you sure this won't get us expelled?" Peter whispered.

"Of course, as long as we stop snickering with guilty written all over our faces and act surprised they won't know we did it. Besides I think Dumbledore can appreciate a joke every now and than. It's not like we are poisoning someone." Sirius shrugged. Sirius trusted his gut feeling about this, he and James were sure that although this was a prank it was not something that the headmaster would expel them for. It was within the boundaries Sirius hated.

Dumbledore got up and announced the Halloween feast opened. Plates appeared on the table and large pile of food, then a loud gasped sounded in the great hall. The four boys had to work very hard to keep a straight face when they saw the surprised look on the faces of their fellow students. All the food was colored in the colors of the houses, all the food except the food on the Slytherin table which was just a dull grey.

The teachers noticed very quickly something was wrong and professor Dumbledore himself stood up and walked down to the Ravenclaw table to take a look at the food himself. The four boys, as well every other student watched intensely as the headmaster investigated the food. Sirius could have sworn he saw Dumbledore's shoulders shake softly with laughter. The headmaster pulled out his wand and made a complicated movement Sirius didn't recognize and the food on the plate before Dumbledore turned back to their normal color.

When the headmaster looked up Sirius was sure his eyes stopped for a second on him and James but he didn't say anything. Dumbledore walked back up the platform and raised his voice.

"Dear students, I think somebody wanted to make the feast more festive and decorated the food, it's safe so you can all dig in."

Before returning to his place in the middle of the teachers table Dumbledore looked at the four boys, with a wink he turned around. Remus and James gasped.

"He knew?" Remus breathed.

"I guess so." James said relieved. "but how?"

"I think the elves told him, he is their master, they would tell him." Sirius said thoughtfully. This only occurred to him now.

"The elves, I never thought about that." Remus muttered.

"Peter, next time you'll have to do a better job at distracting them." James nodded seriously.

"Next time." Peter said in a high pitched voice.

"Yes, this was too good to do only once." James smirked and dug in the pile of food he had on his plate.

They ate in silence for a while, mouths to stuffed to talk properly, around them people were chatting and wondering who had jinxed the food like that.

From the Ravenclaw table Sirius heard a fifth year say, "must have been someone from the NEWTS, nobody younger could have done it." It gave him a great satisfaction that his shabby friend had been able to teach them that jinx. People never considered Remus as a talent but that was mostly because of the way he looked, and it bothered Sirius a lot. It shouldn't matter how they looked, if their blood was pure, or what your last name was, everybody should have a chance to prove themselves.

From the Huffelpuf table mutters came about the type of jinx placed on the food, only Gryffindor and Slytherin came close to the truth. Lily Evans was whispering to, Ann Grimbone, the girl next to her, "I'm sure James and Sirius know something about this."

"Lily, you are fighting a war you can't win, they looked just as surprised as anyone." Ann answered.

From the Slytherin table came, "It must have been some stupid blood traitor, maybe that Black kid, if it was a decent person he or she would at least have the decency to stay away from our food."

The four boys didn't utter a word about it and just enjoyed the feast, the food was good and besides from Lily Evans and the Slytherins the company was good, so there was no need not to enjoy themselves.

"We should do something this big every special feast." James muttered to Sirius.

"Something particular in mind?" Sirius asked with his mouth full.

"Not yet." James shrugged. "Valentine's day would be a good one. Easter, maybe."

"Christmas to holy in the Potter household?" Sirius challenged.

"Christmas would be good but you'll have to that one, mate, my parents expect me back for Christmas." James answered casually.

Sirius pulled up a blank face, he didn't want to show his friend how much those words actually hurt. It wasn't that he wanted to celebrate Christmas at home, he'd really rather stay at Hogwarts, but it was the fact that his friend would leave for a loving family. Gifts, good food, joy, and some love, something he secretly wanted as well. Sirius honestly couldn't remember the last time he really enjoyed Christmas, it was always a stiff affair with pure-blood relatives discussing whom their kids were going to marry and have pure-blood kids with. As soon as the word marriage came up Sirius fled the room, he just didn't want to know.

The other boys didn't notice that Sirius wasn't paying attention to their conversation anymore, they happily continued talking about the effect of this prank and what to do with the next. Meanwhile Sirius's state mind spiraled downwards, _wouldn't it be nice to use my magic to beat some brains into those stupid pure-blood advocates_, he thought to himself as he glanced over at the Slytherin table. His cousin was talking to Macnair, and one of the Lestrange brothers, Sirius knew the two boys had the same ideas as Bellatrix, but Bella was a bit different, a bit more passionate about the whole pure-blood thing, it reached pure insanity according to Sirius, but that was the reason why his family loved Bellatrix so much, Bella was in their mind the ideal daughter.

A few seats to the left Sirius saw his older cousin, Andromeda, he had always like her. Andromeda wasn't like her mother or sisters, she was friendly to everyone, muggle-born, half or pure blood, to her it didn't matter. Besides that she was very talented and smart, she had a certain wit about her. Sirius couldn't figure out why she was sorted into Slytherin, it just so wasn't her. Andromeda had always been a bit of a black sheep in the family, a place now taken by Sirius himself, but Andromeda had openly told her parents that the whole pure-lood thing was non-sense. It has caused a shock in the family and Andromeda was severely punished. After that she had never said a word again, she just did like she didn't hear people talking. Sirius knew it was discussed to ship Andromeda off with a pure-blood husband immediately after she finished school.

Not wanting to dwell on that thought Sirius turned his attention away from Amdromeda and looked further along the Slytherin table he saw Snivellus talking to the head boy Malfoy.

"Yeah, slime your way up. Slimy git." Sirius muttered.

A sudden poke in his side brought him back to his friends.

"What do you think, mate?" James asked.

"What are you talking about, I missed something."

"About joking around a bit more. I thought, and Remus and Peter agree, that we should put more of our time in learning useful spells, jinxes and curses so we could have more fun. I can't wait to help out the Quidditch team with jinxing the Slytherins before the up coming match."

"Using magic to get some sense in the Slytherins I'm all for." Sirius smiled darkly.


	4. Christmas freedom

_**It came out a bit different than I wished but enjoy...**_

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**and please review!**

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**4. Christmas.**

"Remus went to visit his mom again." James asked as he fell into a chair.

"Yeah, must be going worse, it's shortly before Christmas, just two weeks and he would see her again. McGonagall got him early, immediately after class." Sirius answered as he looked up from a book he was reading. James nodded sadly, they both thought the same, every time Remus went to visit his very sick mom he came back in a bad shape, sick with worry. They both worried for their friend, it would be hard when it was going to be the last visit.

"Peter still not back?" James asked

"Nope, Slughorn is keeping him long today."

Peter had gotten his first detention, a week ago he had, accidently, added some powdered roots to Snivellus's cauldron, which exploded and created chaos in class. It also resulted in Snivellus and Lily Evans spending two days in the hospital wing. Slughorn had seen it go wrong but hadn't been able to stop Peter.

With his two best students injured Slughorn was quite upset and gave Peter detention twice a week until Christmas. Peter had to help Slughorn with all sorts of boring tasks, in the hope he would learn to pay attention to what he was doing.

Sirius considered it one of the best things Peter had done, although he regretted that Evans got injured, he thought it was a pretty good joke. James on the other hand worried about Lily, but when James learned that Lily would be alright he laughed about it as well.

"What are you reading? It's so not you to be reading on a Sunday." James asked as he pointed to the book Sirius was holding.

"It's pretty good actually. I found it in the library."

"You've been to the library? Again?" James asked shocked.

"Yeah, besides staring at Evans you should do it as well. I have a Christmas prank to plan, I'm searching for something good to use."

"Found anything."

"Yeah, look at this." Sirius handed James the book and pointed to the right section. "I'm just not sure if any of the Slytherins are staying to try that on, petrify them completely and shove them in a cupboard for a while, or just leave them laying around."

"You'll get into trouble for that, Dumbledore won't let you get away with that." James said seriously.

"Not if they don't see me doing it. I have to learn to do it as quietly as possible. It's not the only thing I found. I've been reading up on Transfiguration as well."

"What, you are starting to be a book worm." James teased. Sirius just smiled and ignored his friend.

"I was thinking that if we could transform things properly, we could have some fun. Like when a Slytherin picks up a fork and we quickly change it into a straw. Or that if somebody picks up a book that it turns into something that scares them."

James nodded.

"That could be fun. You know maybe we should try and invent some jinxes ourselves. That should be possible. Or dig up old ones that are long forgotten. I'll ask my dad when I'm home, I'm sure he got some ideas."

"Don't you think your mom will kill the both of you when she finds out?" Sirius asked.

"Nah, she loves us and there is nothing she can do about it."

"Yeah, love." Sirius muttered darkly, being remembered of the Christmas he was spending alone this year was still stinging.

"Oh, I'm sorry, mate. I'll ask mom and dad if you can come to our place next year. I can't do anything about it this year. If I had known that it bothered you I would have asked my parents if you could join us in France."

"I know." Sirius muttered. "It isn't that completely, it's just that my mom has been writing me again."

"Oh, you haven't told me before. What does she wants?"

"Dunno, haven't opened the letters. They are there." Sirius pointed to the fire place. The last remnants of parchment still visible.

"Why haven't you read them?" James asked.

"Two reasons. One it can be that she's demanding that I come home for Christmas and I'm not going, period. Second, I'm just not interested in what she got to say otherwise." Sirius shrugged.

"She is still you mother, at some point she must have loved you." James mused.

"Ha!" Sirius laughed harshly. "My mom only got pregnant to reproduce, to create a continuance of the pure blood line. She never loved either of us, not even the perfect Regulus."

James stared at his friend for a while, but shook his head after a few seconds and continued to discus Sirius's new ideas on Transfigurations.

* * *

"Sirius!" Somebody hissed.

Sirius turned around to look at the source of the hiss.

"Sirius, here." He heard again. Looking in the general direction he finally saw it. His older cousin.

"Meda!" he said surprised.

"Ssssh, come here." She hissed. A bit confused Sirius looked around him and followed her into a empty unused classroom. When he turned around he saw his cousin putting spells on the door. When she saw him looking at her she smiled wryly.

"You can never be too careful." She said sadly.

"What's up?" Sirius asked as he pulled himself on a desk. Andromeda sat down next to him, she looked tired and sad. Sirius felt a pang of sympathy for her, he liked Meda a lot and he knew she was having a hard time being a Slytherin as well at home.

"I heard you are staying here with Christmas."

"Yes, the howlers made it clear I wasn't welcome."

Meda nodded, staring in front of her for a while.

"I wish I could stay here as well." She finally said.

"Why don't you?" Sirius asked.

"Mom would personally come and get me. She would kill me if I missed the family dinner. Besides Cissy needs me, she doesn't deserve being stuck with Bella all Christmas."

"That bad?" Sirius asked surprised. Meda nodded sadly.

"Bella, is…is even worse than mother, or your mother. Her obsession with the dark arts and the pure-blood madness is unmeasured. She'll try to get Cissy into it as well."

"Cissy doesn't think the same?" he asked, he had seen Narcissa around school but she kept mostly to herself and a select group of friends, spending most of her time in the library.

"I don't know, I know Malfoy is feeding her the same ideas, he's a lot older than he and she believes him but I don't want Bella's ideas getting to her, not now."

Sirius knew that arrangements had been made for Narcissa to be married to Lucius Malfoy, although he was older than her, their mother had immediately agreed when the proposal had been made by old Malfoy. His cousin hadn't been particular happy about is but she was trying to get to know Lucius. Sirius also knew that Andromeda strongly disapproved of these arranged marriage.

"What do you mean, not now?" Sirius asked.

Meda looked at him, suddenly she looked much older than she was. She was only sixteen, shortly turning seventeen but at the moment she looked many years older.

"I don't think I'll be a Black for much longer." She said with a heavy sigh.

"What! Are they marrying you off before you finish school?" Sirius sounded as shaken as he felt.

Meda smiled at him, "No, but once word gets out about my personal life, mother would either kill me or disown me."

"What happened?" Sirius whispered.

"I fell in love."

"With whom?"

"A muggle-born from Ravenclaw."

"Ted Tonks." Sirius whispered. He had seen them together, walking around the lake at nightfall on the warm days. They had walked hand in hand talking, Sirius hadn't immediately thought his cousin was dating the Ravenclaw.

Meda nodded, "You knew?"

"No, I just saw you two walking around the lake hand in hand."

"Yeah, well you know how the family is going to react to that. Cissy knows, she almost cursed me to bits for it herself but in the end she promised to keep quiet. I'm just not sure that it could stay a secret over Christmas."

Sirius understood her problem, if Bella knew, or some other pure-blood maniac found out and told someone within the family Meda would be in real problems.

"When are you going to tell them?" Sirius asked softly.

"I wasn't planning on it. I'll be seventeen in two weeks time, I'm packing my most important things over Christmas and once I'm here I'll never return to that house. Ted's parents already agreed I could stay with them when things turned ugly."

"They know about all this?"

"Ted explained. They understand what they need to understand."

They sat a while in companionable silence, both lost in thoughts. Sirius suddenly felt older as well, like he felt in moments when he had to deal with his mother. He felt sorry for Meda, and angry at his family for being so obnoxious. He turned to look at Meda again, she looked miserable, sad and confused at the same time. Not knowing what to do to help her, he wrapped one arm around her.

"Meda, I know I'm so much younger than you, but I'll support you no matter what. Two Blacks fighting for freedom. If anything happens come to me, if anything happens during Christmas, flee to Ted or go to James's parents, the Potters will help you, I'll make sure James knows."

Meda hugged him.

"Thanks Sirius. You don't seem so young when you are like this."

* * *

Sirius made sure James knew about his cousin's problems, James, like a true friend, promised to inform his parents of the possibility that Andromeda might show up on their doorstep. Although they wouldn't be there themselves the house-elf would be ordered to take care of her if she showed up.

Secretly Sirius hoped that Meda would be able to keep up the pretences just for two weeks, half January she would come off age and be free.

The week leading up to Christmas Sirius spend most of his time thinking what to do with two weeks alone. As he was sitting in front of the fire staring at the flames, he wondered how he would enjoy those days alone.

"What are you thinking?" Remus asked.

"Christmas." Sirius grumbled.

"You should have told us earlier that you were staying behind, we would have stayed as well." Remus said seriously.

"Nah, you have to go home to your mom, James is going to France, and Peter has to endure days with his grandma, I won't press myself onto you guys."

Remus didn't argue with him, he had done that too many times. They sat next to each other for a while.

"Where's James?" Remus asked suddenly.

"Detention."

"Did I miss something?"

"Apparently, James was caught jinxing Dolohov."

"How long is his sentence?"

"Slughorn caught him, so I expect him back soon. Slughorn wants him in his club not give him detention."

Remus nodded. "Peter still doing detention as well?"

"No, he's asleep. Don't know why but that guy sleeps more than the death." Sirius laughed.

Remus picked up the book Sirius had been reading before.

"Found any good?"

"No, not until we locate the Slytherin common room."

"Curses?"

"Yep."

Soon after that James walking into the room. He looked angry.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"Slughorn and Snivellus, that what's wrong." He grumbled.

"Start with the last one, that should be more interesting." Sirius smiled.

"Snivellus needs a new bag, again." James chuckled.

"Why did you ripped his bag apart?" Remus asked.

"Dunno." James shrugged, "Just felt like it when he was walking by. He was talking to Evans."

"Yes, talking to Evans would be a crime." Remus chuckled.

"What's up with Slughorn?"

"He been literally begging me to come to his Christmas party. He said I was to do detention until I agreed come."

"That's mean." Sirius said seriously.

"Yeah, I just don't want to be hanging around with those snobs." James muttered angrily.

"What did you do?" Remus asked.

"I said I would be coming. I didn't want to waist time in detention. I'll just show up, maybe hex the food and go away."

"I can't believe you said yes." Sirius shook his head.

"What else could I do?"

"Dunno, say that you have to go home early."

"Can't, he knows my parents. He knows about our plans."

"Tough deal mate, doing detention or going to a party." Remus laughed.

"We'll just have to think of a way to jinx or hex the food." James muttered seriously

Slughorns party was much anticipated, it was the evening before the kids would go home for the holidays. Besides James non of the Gryffindor first years had been invited. He had been allowed to take someone with him but as non of the three other boys wanted to go, James left the common room alone that night.

"Why hasn't he asked Evans?" Remus asked Sirius.

"He has, but she just glared at him and walked away." Sirius laughed.

When Remus and Peter finished packing their trunks for the trip home, they sat down on the bed next to Sirius.

"Do know what you are going to do during the holidays?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Locating the Slytherin common room." Sirius muttered as he was looking with great concentration at a page in his massive book he was reading.

"Why?"

Sirius didn't answer right away, his finger ran along a few lines as he muttered the words out loud.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked, finally drawing Sirius's attention.

"Learning something useful." Sirius smiled.

"Like what? Found a new curse?" Peter asked excited.

"Oh many, but I found away that they could never trace it back to me." Sirius smiled. He turned the book to Peter and Remus and pointed out the part he was reading. "It's a way to erase spells from your wand. If you use it they can't see what spell you have used last because it's just deleted. I thought it would be wise to learn how to cover my tracks."

Remus nodded.

"But you didn't answer my question. Any particular reason why you want to find the Slytherin common room?"

"Always, but I like to know where our enemy is hiding. I might accidentally find a good curse I can put on the entrance."

"And besides that, any plans in particular?"

"Nope, just take my time to sleep long and explore the castle."

"What about homework?" Peter ask.

"What about it?"

"Well, they have given us so much to do over the holidays, aren't you going to do it?"

"Nah, I'll do it the last day. I want to enjoy the freedom."

They waited for James to return from the party, it took him longer than they expected. It was well past ten when a disgruntled looking James arrived back in the common room.

"So what's the news?" Sirius said with a smile.

"Can you believe that guy actually has connections. He had invited Quidditch players, ministry employees, writers, successful people. I mean every big name in the world was there."

"How boring." Sirius commented.

"You know the freaky thing was, it wasn't. It was a really nice party."

"Than why are you back here already?" Remus asked.

"It's a party for snobs, I'm not going there again. I can't even imagine why he invited me." James shook his head.

"Who else was there?" Sirius asked.

"A few students from six and seventh year, head boy, head girl, prefects, some talented people. Two from third year Ravenclaw. And one Slytherin."

"Did you hex him?"

"No, I didn't get the chance. Slughorn saw me walk in and took me around introducing me to a lot of people. I knew a lot of them already, from dad's work. Still I'm not going back there, too much sucking up."

They spend the last evening before the Christmas holidays together, talking about Quidditch, bullying Snape and girls. Specially the girl-subject was a favorite since the boys found out the James had a weak spot for miss Evans. Sirius pestered him endlessly about it.

Next day Sirius waved his friends goodbye and turned back to the great hall for some lunch. Tomorrow would be Christmas eve, he would be alone the only first year Gryffindor that was staying behind. As much as it bothered him, it also felt as a relieve, he didn't have any obligations, dinners or family gatherings to attend to.

"Mister Black!" a stern voice called from behind. As he turned he saw professor McGonagall walking towards him.

"Yes, professor."

"Will you please take this upstairs, it's the invitation to the Christmas dinner tomorrow night and for the lunch on Christmas. It's normal that we are all together in the great hall. Will you please put it up on the information board?"

"Yes, professor." Sirius nodded. McGonagall was already turning away when he thought of something.

"Professor? I have a question."

"Yes."

"During the holidays are there any rules about exploring the castle and it's grounds?" Sirius tried to pull up his innocent face hoping she would answer him.

"You can explore the castle and it's grounds, the other common room, offices, dark forest and restricted areas are of course out of bounds." She said with a smile.

"Thank you professor."

"Oh, and mister Black, I know you are alone this holiday but it doesn't mean that you can do what ever you want, there is still a curfew."

"Yes, professor."

Sirius turned around to take up the invitation to the Gryffindor common room, and decided to have lunch after that. It felt quite liberating to be walking around just doing nothing and not having to worry about a professor showing up telling him to move. Whistling a Christmas carol Sirius found himself happy.

Lunch was a quiet affair, only a handful of students stayed for the holiday. The teachers as well, it looked like only madam Hooch, professor Sprout, professor McGonagall and professor Dumbledore stayed for Christmas. Later Hagrid showed up but Sirius didn't expect him to leave for a holiday anyway.

There were two Slytherins, a second year and a seventh year, there was only one Huffelpuf, like Sirius a first year who looked completely lonely, and three Ravenclaws, a group of friend from the seventh year.

Besides Sirius there were two other Gryffindor's staying. A boy named Alan Gurf, a sixth year and a girl named Jean Lorne, a second year. Sirius sat down next to them trying to start a little conversation but both were reading so Sirius took his time to eat enough and headed back out for a walk through the grounds.

When he walked through the doors his eyes fell on the Quidditch pitch. Of course this week it would be empty, suddenly Sirius turned around and raced up back to the Gryffindor common room, digging from under his bed he found his broom. _Flying!_

Pulling on an extra sweater as quickly as he could Sirius hurried to make it outside. Once in the Quidditch pitch he looked around in awe, it would be great if he would ever made it on the Quidditch team, it would be worth all the hours training just to experience the stadium full of excited people.

Kicking off from the ground Sirius heart soared in happiness, the feeling of freedom when flying a broom was so special that he could have spend his entire life on a broom. The whole afternoon he flew, trying to get his broom under extreme control. Lapping the pitch a few time before diving down and pulling up just before the ground. His smile grew wider and wider, until he saw the figure of madam Hooch walking onto the pitch.

"Mister Black, get down here!" she yelled.

He quickly landed besides her.

"Yes, madam Hooch."

"Now, I don't know if anyone told you but it is forbidden for first years to fly unsupervised. I believe it's even forbidden for first years to have their own broom."

"No, madam, I didn't know."

"Well now you do."

"Does that mean that I can't fly again? At all this year or this holiday?" Sirius asked completely in shock.

"Well, normally no." madam Hooch said thoughtfully. "But I have been watching you just now and you seem to know what you are doing. Have you flown much before?"

"Not so much, only during the summer holidays for the last four years."

"Your parents agreed?" She asked surprised.

"No not really, but my uncle did, it was at his place."

"Hmmm…" madam Hooch seem to think the whole thigh through. Sirius nervously waited for what she had to say. "Well, can you keep yourself from getting harmed?"

"Yes, madam Hooch."

"Okay, just because it is Christmas, you have my approval to use the Quidditch pitch to fly. Only for this holiday." She said with a smile.

"Thank you so much."

"Besides I was watching you for a while, you are not with out talent. I'm sure Gryffindor could use some new talent next year."

With that she turned around and walked off the pitch. It was getting dark and Sirius decided that it must be time to get ready for dinner. Walking back to the castle he thought about his plans for this holiday, flying made him feel so good, that he decided to spend every morning flying. Pranks and other useful things could wait.

The next morning his plans fell apart, it was snowing heavily and the wind was blowing like crazy. He was sure madam Hooch wouldn't agree with him flying in that weather. Grumbling and muttering plan one was back on the menu. Walking through the corridors Sirius wondered if he had ever been there, everything looked so different when the castle was this empty.

"Urgh, this castle is nuts, they should give us a map so we can actually see if we have been there before." Sirius muttered as he walked to a window. Seating himself on the still he watched out over the grounds. Being locked up inside was something Sirius didn't do well, he had too much of that at home.

Looking down the corridor he wondered where exactly in the castle he was. It had to be somewhere on the outer side of the castle and at the west side as the window in which he sat looked out over the dark forest.

Pulling out a small piece of parchment and a small self-inking quill Sirius drew a rough sketch of the corridor and it's out look on the dark forest. When he finished that part he walked on to the next turn of the corridor, looking out the window he noticed the corridor actually curved slightly.

"No wonder we still get lost in this place." Sirius muttered. He quickly sketched the curve in the corridor. Muttering and cursing for a while Sirius made his way down to the great hall, sketching every corridor he walked through, using a new piece of parchment when he reached a new level. When he finally reached ground floor he could label all the levels he had passed.

"That looks like a start of a map." A voice said behind him. As he turned he saw the white figure of Nick the Gryffindor house ghost.

"Oh hey, Nick. Yeah the castle look so different empty like this."

"Yes, it has always been like this with the holidays." Nick said sadly. "don't you have to go for lunch?"

"Yeah, I was on my way." Sirius sad with a smile. They went to the great hall together, it was almost empty. Sirius took a glance up to the ceiling, it didn't seem like the weather wouldn't calm down soon. Flying would be a no-go for today.

Lunch was only a bit of bread and toast, probably in preparation to the Christmas dinner they would have that night. Thinking furiously about what to do with the rest of his day Sirius took his time for lunch.

Deciding on taking his map further and trying to locate the Slytherin common room. That would be a great mark on his little map.

The day flew by drawing the map actually. Sirius enjoyed roaming the castle, making small notes when he found something he didn't knew before. He had only one problem, with so few students around it was hard to locate the Slytherin common room.

_Should take James's cloak and follow a few Slytherins after dinner, when James is back_.

Christmas dinner was really nice, much better than Sirius had ever had before. When he entered the great hall he stopped for a second wondering if he had taken the right turn. It didn't look like the great hall, more like a cozy dining room. A Christmas tree sat in the corner and a large table was placed in the middle. Christmas decoration hang from every wall and it looked so much smaller.

The only thing that indicated he was in the right room were the teacher and almost all the other students were seated around the table.

Dumbledore looked at him and winked.

"Magic." Sirius shrugged and walked over to sit between professor Dumbledore and the lonely Huffelpuf.

When all the other students arrived, including a couple of disgruntled looking Slytherins, Dumbledore officially opened the Christmas dinner and the most delicious food appeared.

"I'm happy, Mr. Black that our food isn't colored red and green today." Professor Dumbledore casually said. Sirius sputtered and looked up. Dumbledore's eyes were sparkling with fun. "Not been able to think up something good this time?"

Sirius took a second to recover.

"Dinner isn't over yet, sir." He smiled slyly. Dumbledore broke out in laughter and a few people who had listened to their conversation joined.

"You know, Mr. Black, I really enjoy when students aren't shy but you have to be careful not all teachers enjoy it."

"I know, professor." Sirius nodded.

It was surprising that conversation between students and teachers flowed so easily. Professor McGonagall who sat across from Sirius talked to Dumbledore and Sirius about the recent attacks on muggles. Sirius had never thought that they would discus that so openly in front of their youngest students, but it came clear why they didn't mind including them when McGonagall turned her complete attention to Sirius.

"Your family is, I believe, following Lord Voldemort's ideas very closely?" she asked him.

Sirius just nodded, he knew his mother and her family would support any wizard that advocates for a pure-blood only wizarding world.

"Is it likely that they will join him when he really claim the stake?"

He thought about it for a while, would they? Yes, of that he was sure, but in what way?

"They will support him but I don't think actively, in like fighting and killing people." He answered honestly, he just couldn't imagine his mother doing more work than needed, specially not battling.

McGonagall nodded and asked the same sort of question to the Huffelpuf kid next to him.

The whole evening was surprisingly pleasant, much better than he had expected.

The sun was annoyingly bright when Sirius woke up. He pulled the covers of his bed over his head just to block out the sun a bit. It took him the better part of ten minutes to realize that it was Christmas morning and that the sun was shining, that meant he could fly again.

Hurrying out his bed Sirius fell over a pile of packages.

"Presents?" he murmured in shock. He hadn't expected presents, although he had made sure his friends would get something from him, he hadn't expected them, with their busy plans for Christmas to think about him.

Sitting with his back again his bed he grabbed the first parcel. He recognized Peter's awful handwriting. Carefully he opened the present, inside he found a large box of sugar quills. His favorite flavor.

Remus had gotten his a box of chocolate frogs, and his uncle had send him a large box of Dr. Filibusters specialties.

The last package was rather large, and it was decorated with James's handwriting. It was heavy. Curiosity got the better of him and he ripped the parcel open. A large book fell onto his lap. A note fell along with it. Sirius picked it up and read it.

_Mate_,

_I still feel awful that I didn't ask you along for the trip with my parents, I hope this will make it up a bit. Check out chapters seven until eighteen. They will be very useful._

_See you soon._

_James._

A useful book, that ought to be the first time James said a those words in that exact combination. The book was titled, 'Spells, jinxes, and hexes, a guide through what is known' It sounded interesting. Inside Sirius found the book was a extensive list of every spell, jinx or hex ever written down. It was useful because it contained a short explanation of how to do the incantation and what it would result to.

Quickly he skipped through the pages to chapter seven. Unsurprisingly it was the start of the jinxes list. Many he had heard of, but even more he had never been able to imagine. Yes, this book would be very useful, but later, first Christmas was going to be celebrated with a morning of flying.


	5. Wolfy Secrets

**A bit delayed, and I have changed the rating a bit...I'm still going to write Sirius's flings and activities, but for now I'm lowering the rating a bit...**

**Please, please Review..!**

* * *

**4. Wolfy Secrets**

"How was Christmas?" James asked as he sat down next to Sirius at the dinner table. The train with the returning students had arrived a hour before but it was only now that Sirius and James had time to talk.

"Perfect, actually. Thanks for the book, it is really useful." Sirius said as he dug into his food. "Yours?"

"Mwah, it was okay. I got tired of all the family gushing over me after twenty minutes, but the French food was good and my father and I had fun pulling jokes on everybody. I liked your gift, the fire-works did come in handy during the holiday."

"Yeah, I thought it might." Sirius chuckled.

"Did you do anything exciting?" James asked.

"I flew a lot."

"What?" James chocked.

"I got permission from madam Hooch to fly in the pitch when the weather was nice."

James's face lit up and Sirius saw ideas forming in his head.

"Forget it James, it was only for the Christmas holiday. Apparently first-years aren't allowed to fly on their own."

"That's too bad." James sighed.

"But besides that I didn't do much, explored the castle a bit and tried some of the jinxes from the book you send but I didn't have much test subjects."

"Did you do anything about the pile of homework?" Peter asked as he sat down at the table.

"No." James and Sirius answered together.

"Not? But it's like a ton of homework, I used the whole holiday to get it all done." Peter complained.

"I'll look at it after dinner, tomorrow it's only the Transfiguration essay that has to be done, right?" Sirius asked.

"Yes."

"Now than, nothing to worry about."

"For you." Peter muttered.

James and Sirius chuckled but focused on the food, a boy could never eat enough. When Remus joined them Sirius decided to tell them about the strange open conversation he had with the teachers during the Christmas dinner.

"People are getting worried." James nodded. "my father says Dumbledore is worried as well."

"My mum and dad aren't too worried but dad says it could be getting worse soon. That Voldemort guy is like shadow. People know he's behind some of these attacks but there is no prove." Remus muttered.

They all ate quietly for a while, lost in thoughts about the news articles they all have read and the rumors that were flying. Sirius couldn't shake off the thought that the teachers were really worried and that it would get a lot worse before Voldemort was caught.

When the hall was filled and the students were eating and chatting happily about the holidays Sirius glanced at the Slytherin table. Andromeda was sitting at the end of the table talking to a friend. She looked happy and unharmed. Sirius sighed in relieve, his favorite cousin had made it out alive.

S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S

Snowball fights, pranks and an exciting Quidditch match between Ravenclaw and Slytherin kept the boys busy throughout January. Although most students spend their free time studying, the four boys were spending it getting themselves into trouble. James and Sirius ended up in detention so much that McGonagall had written their parents. Both boys received a howler the next day, Sirius honestly couldn't care less and opened it during breakfast and continued eating while the letter kept yelling at him.

"Doesn't it bother you?" James asked after he returned. He had ran out as soon as the letter reached his fingers, trying and failing to save himself from embarrassment.

"No, not really, I'll face the music when it's summer." Sirius grumbled, his mouth full with egg.

At the beginning of February James and Sirius had taken an excursion under James's cloak to figure out where the other three common rooms were located. First following a group of Slytherins down into the dungeons. Sirius was surprised that it was so easy, he had expected at least the older Slytherins to notice the sounds of footsteps behind them.

When the group of Slytherins stopped in front of a large portrait Sirius and James watched. After a few seconds the portrait swung open and revealed an elegant door, the Slyhterins disappeared through it quickly.

"Well, that was easy." James whispered as he turned to walk away.

"Wait a second." Sirius hissed as he pulled the stacks of papers from his pocket. He took an empty one and looked around.

"What are you doing?" James asked. Sirius didn't answer, he drew the hallway and the location of the portrait. Than he grabbed James by his arm and pulled him long the corridor back to where they came from. At the corner he stopped and drew again.

"A map?" James hissed.

"Yeah, I was sick of getting lost in this castle. I started drawing a map, hopefully one day I'll found out how to merge them all into one."

Sirius made a few other stops on the way to the entrance hall to draw a few more pages and number them so he was able to place them on the right level of the castle.

"Come on lets get back, I want to see what you have drawn already." James said excitingly.

Sirius and James found Remus and Peter locked in a battle of wizards chess, Peter was loosing massively and the game was ended quickly. James cleared the table and Sirius pulled out his stack of small maps and notes.

Remus was impressed and was already muttering about ideas of drawing them onto a large piece of paper.

"Do you know any magical way to make them into one big map?" James asked Remus.

"No." Remus shook his head.

"You could search for it in the library." Sirius said hopeful.

"Maybe but I doubt we'll find anything soon, it will be something complicated, some kind of transfiguration spell. I don't even know where we should start searching." Remus shook his head.

"We?" James and Sirius asked together.

"Yes, you don't think I'm going to do it all by myself."

"But I have seen enough of the library for the next seven year." Sirius complained.

"Do you want a proper map or do you want to use this pile of drawings." Remus challenged.

James and Sirius glared at their friend but when Remus didn't gave in James sighed.

"Alright, we'll do some work."

"We could start tomorrow." Sirius said a bit grumpy. "You know the library almost as well as Evans but I doubt she'll help us."

"I can't tomorrow." Remus whispered. "I have to go home tomorrow, for a few days."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sirius muttered. He knew it was a touchy subject for his friend to talk about his visits to his sick mother and Sirius didn't want to bring it up unnecessary.

Sirius glanced towards James for a second but he didn't seem to notice, he was staring out the window.

S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S

Over the next few months as spring was finally drove away the snow and ice, the boys visited the library regularly, or for the better word, Sirius and James ordered Peter to get the books they needed from the library. Remus was a great help, his knowledge of books was large and he always had an idea of where to find clues or spells. The sad thing was that Remus left the castle regularly, always visiting his sick mother for a few days each month.

"You'd think his mom will last through the summer? He gets back so depressed, almost sick." Sirius muttered to James. Together with Peter they were walking through the portrait hole of the common room. They had just returned from dinner but spend way to long harassing Snivellus, it was almost eight and they didn't want to get caught again being out in the hallways after curfew. Especially Sirius still had a long list of detentions to attend to.

"I hope so, it will be a big blow for him when his mother dies." Peter said sadly.

James didn't say anything, again he walked over to the end of the room and stared out the window. Sirius watched James muttering to himself and glancing up, suddenly James turned very pale and gasped.

"Oy, what's wrong?" Sirius called to James, but he shook his head, continuously muttering under his breath.

Peter and Sirius waited very impatiently for James to tell them what got him so worried, it took almost fifteen minutes, suddenly James dashed up the stairs. Peter and Sirius were about to follow him when he returned on the top of the stairs again.

"Come with me." He whispered. James threw the invisibility cloak over them and they carefully walked out of the common room.

"We'll get a hell of a lot of trouble if we get caught." Sirius hissed.

"Just walk carefully, we need to talk somewhere private." James hissed back.

Sirius didn't knew what James was looking for but after five minutes of carefully moving around James opened a door and pulled the other two into an empty classroom.

"Seriously James, a class room?" Sirius challenged him.

"It's private." James shrugged.

Sirius started to make an other comment but James turned away, the moon light fell on his face, Sirius saw how pale James really looked and stopped talking immediately. It was like James had seen the Grim so shocked he looked.

"James?" Sirius spoke carefully. "What's up?"

"It's a full moon." He muttered.

"Yes, and?" Sirius pressed impatiently.

"Last time Remus was gone it was also a full moon."

"Yes, and?"

"The time after the Christmas break when he was away it was a full moon as well." James said, he looked at Sirius like he was missing something obviously. Sirius was thinking what the full moon and Remus could have anything to do with one and other. James words just kept running through Sirius's head but the coin wouldn't drop.

"Ow, come on!" James yelled impatiently, "Can't you two put two and two together!"

It took Sirius only a second after that before he realized what James was saying, why James looked so shocked. As realization hit Sirius felt the blood clear his face as well. He looked at James and shook his head.

"No mate, that can't be." Sirius breathed.

"I think it is." James muttered.

"But, Dumbledore would never risk his students by letting someone like that stay in the castle." Sirius argued.

"People say Dumbledore's off his rockers anyway, besides he's never staying in the castle during the full moon."

"Maybe he's somewhere in the castle." Sirius challenged.

"No, I have seen madam Pomfrey taking him out of the castle, I always assumed that they took him to Hogsmeade to apparate home." James said.

"Uhm…guys?" Peter piped up. "What are you talking about?"

"Pete! Why are you so slow!" James sighed. "Remus has been taken out of the castle every full moon, doesn't that rings a bell?"

Peter just stared from James to Sirius, Sirius could see that there wasn't any understanding in the small mousy boy. Sirius sighed and shook his head.

"James, and I, are thinking that Remus might be a…" Sirius glanced to James. "Damn it's hard to say! We think Remus might be a werewolf."

Sirius rushed the last words out, not out of shame but because he felt sorry for his friend, to say it out loud somehow it did hurt. He had heard stories about werewolves, ruthless, dangerous and considered even lower than muggle-borns to the pure blood wizard society but even by half-bloods and muggle-borns werewolves weren't considered to be wizards or witches, just half-breeds or monsters. What Sirius remembered mostly from the stories he read about werewolves was that the transformation was incredible painful, difficult to endure and the stress of not getting what it wanted causes only more violence. For the first time in his live Sirius felt really sorry for someone, for the boy he considered his friend.

Peter stood so still that he looked like he was stunned, his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide in shock.

"That…That…that…oh, and we have been friends with that!" Peter suddenly sputtered out.

Sirius snapped his head towards the boy, James was already glaring at him. Sirius felt his mouth opening with shock but slowly the anger took over, had Peter gone crazy?

"Pete!" James yelled. "Remus is our friend, nothing can change that! Not even his problems!"

Sirius felt the waves of anger coming of James and saw his hands twitch towards his wand, being the good friend for once he decided to step in before James hexed Peter.

"James." Sirius said calmly as he place a hand on James's shoulder. "Of course nothing will change our friendship with Remus. I like that guy a lot, he's a good friend, he's smart and we need him if we want to make it through school, Peter knows that as well." Sirius shot a glare in Peter's direction to make sure he kept his mouth shut. "More importantly is what we are going to do now we know it, because it seems like Remus wants to keep this his secret."

James took a deep breath and sat down on an old desk in the corner of the room. Sirius watched his best friend turning from being angry to being sad, James's face slowly fell into a worried frown.

"James, mate? What are you thinking?"

"About Remus, that pore guy must have been through a lot."

"Yeah, and to think that there is nothing he can do to change it."

"We should talk to him about it when he gets back, privately. He must be worried sick that we will find out and dump him." James said softly.

"Guys, you know werewolves are very dangerous." Peter said.

"Yes, and?" James snapped.

"Well, people normally stay away from them because of that."

"Than you can stay away from him, we are not turning our backs on a guy just because he has a problem, there isn't a dangerous fiber in Remus. If you let him fall you can find new friends." Sirius growled at him.

Peter stepped back and breathed heavily, after a few minutes he shook his head.

"It's hard to overcome something that is being told to you all your life." He muttered.

"No, it isn't you just have to stand up for what you believe in." Sirius snapped again.

"Sirius." James said with a heavy sad sigh. "Can we for once focus on what we have to do?"

"What are you thinking, mate?"

"We just have to talk to him but we have to be careful, I really don't want to loose Remus as a friend, he's a good friend."

"Than we talk to him, he'll be back tomorrow. I think we should do it as soon as possible, he has to know we support him and that he has people to talk to and trust." Sirius said as he clapped James on the shoulder. James nodded and got off the table.

"Lets get back to the common room and play some chess, we need practice if we ever want to win from Remus."

For the first time since they had arrive at Hogwarts James and Sirius spend the evening quietly in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, playing chess and thinking about the upcoming day when they had to face Remus.

Sirius went to bed early but he wasn't able to fall asleep his mind kept replaying the passage of the book about werewolves he had read when he was ten. He had found a book about dark creatures on his fathers bookshelves, although he really wasn't interested in the dark arts he couldn't help but being fascinated by the creatures that lurk in the dark. He had taken the book up to his room and started to read about inferi and werewolves. The chapter werewolves had stayed with him, he had found it very hard to imagine a normal person receiving a cursed bite and from that moment being a monster, being something that couldn't be controlled. He had read about the transformation from human to werewolf and how painful it was. He clearly remembered the drawings that were in the book, schematic drawings about the stages of the transformation. Even under the warm Hogwarts blankets Sirius shivered, goose bumps ran down his spine as he imagined poor Remus going through that.

Sirius slept very uneasy that night, his imaginative brain that was normally used for pranks was now bringing up nightmares, all about Remus screaming in pain. When an other nightmare woke him up just as the sun came up Sirius got angry with himself.

"Dammit, it's not like I'm in love with him, give me a break." He growled at his brain.

"Nightmares as well?" James voice floated through the semi-dark room.

"Yeah, I'm dreaming about Remus like a lovesick girl, only my dreams are a bit more dark." Sirius groaned.

"Yeah, me too. I hope he gets back soon so we can put this behind us."

Sirius whole heartily agreed whit him.

The boys didn't found Remus until after dinner, of course he was in the library, looking tired and sick but still studying.

"I'm not setting any foot in that library again, you go and get him." Sirius said as he stopped just outside the door. James glared at him for a second. "What I'm allergic to books, I can't be around them more than absolutely necessary."

James sighed and shook his head. Together with Peter, James entered the library and walked over to Remus. From his point Sirius could see and hear what James said to Remus.

"Hey, Remus. I thought you would be back before class started this morning."

"Oh, hi, James, yeah I thought so too but it was hard one this time."

Sirius saw James nod and look at Remus with sympathy.

"Remus, could we… could we talk for a minute?"

Remus looked up at James, curiosity and shock ran over his face, after a second he nodded and moved to give James and Peter space to sit down.

"Uhm, somewhere a bit more private, Remus." James whispered.

Sirius could see Remus turning white, all color was draining his face. Remus glanced around quickly and his eyes met with Sirius's. Sirius tried to smile encouragingly at his friend and nodded.

"Okay." Remus sighed like he was resigning to something terrible. Sirius realized that to Remus this was something terrible.

The four boys walked to the same classroom that they had used the night before. When James closed the door behind him Remus started to shake a bit. Sirus who was standing beside him noticed.

"It's okay, mate." Sirius said as he patted Remus on the shoulder.

"You guys know?" Remus whispered.

"Yes." Sirius nodded. "James, here figured it out."

Remus sat down on the lone desk with his head in his hands, he looked really depressed.

"Remus." James said as he sat down next to the boy. "Mate, you have nothing to be afraid off. We are not going to let you fall, we are your friends and nothing will change that."

"And what about the fact that I'm dangerous, a killing beast!" he demanded.

"Remus, although there are a lot of people thinking otherwise, we do not believe that you are like that." Sirius told him.

"I become a murderous beast on one night every month, Dumbledore has to take me away so I won't harm any else, how does that make me not dangerous?" Remus spat.

"What he was trying to say is that we know you don't have a dangerous fiber in you, the fact that you change into a beast one day of the month doesn't change that you are a good guy and our friend and the fact that you are so ashamed of it that it makes you yell at us only shows that you aren't like the werewolves that harm people on purpose, that you are trying to be good." James tried.

"So, you don't care about...?" Remus asked in a small voice.

"No, of course not." Sirius argued. "You are a friend, we don't let friends fall."

"No, I don't care." James muttered.

All three boys turned to the small sulky figure of Peter waiting for him to say something. Sirius watch Peter open and close his mouth a few times, he seriously started to get angry with the small boy.

"Alright, I don't care either. I mean it is safe, isn't it?"

"They take me away from the castle at the full moon, so yes."

Although Sirius felt a bit uneasy with Peter's reaction he knew that this would be a common reaction to Remus's troubles, they would have to be careful to guard this secret.

S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S&S

The exams were coming up, although that meant that he should be studying Sirius spend his time pulling simple pranks on Slytherins and worrying about having to go home for the summer. The weather had been soft through out spring and Sirius and James were sitting outside by the lake, enjoying a bit of sun.

"Watch this." Sirius muttered to James. He pointed his wand towards the group of Slytherin girls that were sitting a few feet away against the tree.

"No, Sirius." James hissed.

"What, it's my cousin, I can hex her when ever I want. Besides I wasn't going to do anything mean. Just having fun." Sirius smiled, he waved his wand quickly and muttered a few words. Instantly Bellatrix's quill blew up in a ray of confetti. James chuckled and Sirius worked hard to keep his face neutral, Bella would expect him first and he was in no mood for a shouting match with Bella or getting hexed.

With a glare that could kill Bella looked at him and started to get up but her promised husband Rodolphus kept her down, he muttered something to her that made her look only more deranged. In her eyes Sirius could see she wouldn't forget, he would have to watch his back at school and this summer when his mother would drag him over to visit them.

"You, know Bella could get you in a lot of trouble." Remus commented.

"With who? She'll write my mom, mom yells at me and I don't care." Sirius shrugged.

"Maybe even with someone else. I've heard rumors." Remus whispered as he shot a glance at the Slytherins that were sitting close by.

"What kind of rumors?" Sirius asked.

"About that Voldemort guy, he's recruiting and apparently Bella and her gang seem quite interested in joining."

"Nah, she's only a student." Sirius shook his head.

"Just for a couple of years more yes." Remus reminded him.

Sirius looked at his cousin, although a few years older he thought she looked a lot older. There was a sort of madness but an old madness in her eyes, Sirius knew it was pushed in her by his aunt and maybe even his mother. Deep down Sirius knew that Bellatrix was all about the dark arts and very interested in inflicting pain on people. Remus had a point, if any dark wizard would really step up and claim the spot she would join him, adore him and learn as much as she could from him.

"Don't worry about her, mate. She's already a lost cause." James muttered.

Sirius agreed and focused on his next victim in the form of the small figure of Peter. This time James joined in and a minute later they were laughing loudly at the face of the small boy in front of them. Covered with confetti Peter tried to look angry but failed completely, it resulted in a very funny face.

"Shouldn't you two be studying as well?" Remus asked.

"Why?" James asked.

"Well, maybe because the exams will start on Monday."

"Than Sunday is early enough to start." James shrugged and Sirius whole heartily agreed.

And so to great annoyance of many fellow Gryffindors Sirius spend the majority of the weekend pulling pranks and playing loud games of exploding snap with James. The Gryffindor prefect ended up reporting them to McGonagall, she on her turn gave the boys a warning and pointed out that they would have gotten detention if it wasn't for the fact that they needed their evenings to study. James and Sirius laughed about it later that evening, McGonagall just had a hard time being angry with them, according to them.

Sunday evening came up on him much too fast and Sirius found himself forced into reading books.

Monday would start with History of Magic and although he hated that subject almost as much as he hated his family, he just couldn't get a lower grade than James, that would be too much for his ego to handle. So he studied, al little.

"Are you ever going to study seriously?" Remus asked him during dinner.

"No, not if I don't need to." Sirius answered.

"Can you please stay quiet this evening so that I can get a good grade?" Remus asked.

"What? You will get a good grade if you spend the rest of the day sleeping."

"Yes, still my goal is a bit higher than beating James in tests."

"That's an important goal as well."

"If you think so."

"What are your goals than?" Sirius challenged him.

"I want to have a chance at a career, I know it's a long shot but I want to make sure that it doesn't depend on my grades."

"Why wouldn't you have a career, you are smarter than many in the ministry, you could be easily minister for Magic."

"Thanks Sirius but there still is the small fact that I change into a monster every month." Remus hissed.

Sirius looked at his friend, he seriously considered giving Remus a hard time and challenge his view of himself. Sirius honestly thought that Remus thought very negative of himself, although there was a hint of truth in Remus's words he considered any guy who didn't want to have Remus work for him crazy.

Late Sunday evening Sirius decided that he would at least start to read a book about the subject at hand but after a few pages he failed to pay proper attention and decided to skim through the pages and only read every first and last line of the chapters.

The first three days of the exams were fairly easy, Sirius had just completely dismissed the use of History, he just didn't care about goblin wars but the other exams, Astronomy, Transfiguration, Potions and Charms went really easy. Herbology would never be his favorite and Care for Magical creatures was fun as long as it was the practical part of it, the theory test was very difficult. The last exam was Defense and it was the one both he and James looked forward to, it was their subject not matter how many Slytherins thought differently. Sirius didn't study for it, he didn't needed to, he knew the theory and the practical part of the test would be too easy anyway. James felt the same about it and together they celebrated the last evening of studying for that year in the kitchens repeating dinner and talking about the summer.

"Mom wrote about a trip south, she wanted to stay in the country this year. I think we will go to Cornwall."

"I've never been south." Sirius grumbled.

"Have you ever been on a holiday at all?"

"Yes, when I wasn't a shame to the family my mom took me and Reg up north, dad had an old Durmstrang school friend there."

"Your father went to Durmstrang?"

"Yeah, his parents thought it was a better school as they teach the Dark arts and not just the defense."

"Than why haven't he send you there?"

"Because mom wanted me to be at school with Bella and Cissy, she thought I would stand up for them. I can remember hearing her talk to dad about how I would defend them and be the true head of the Blacks."

"Think she's regretting that now?"

"Yes, she is but Reg is still coming here."

"Is he coming next year?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think he will be in Gryffindor?"

"No, he's much more like Cissy, a good kid at heart but easily corrupted and mom got to him already. He believes her more than anything. He'll be in Slytherin."

James nodded and focused on the chocolate cake in front of him for a while.

"What is going to happen when you come home?" James sounded worried.

"Dunno, mom will probably yell at me, repeat everything she had said in her howlers so I don't forget and than I'll get some sort of punishment for the fact that I hexed Bella so many times. She'll send me to my room, where I have Godric so he can bring letters to you, Remus and Peter and I'll be praying to every god that exist that you all write back to keep me sane."

"Maybe I can ask mom to let you stay a few weeks with us."

"That would be nice but I don't think my parents will allow it."

"Why not?"

"Because your family are all blood traitors they really won't let me go to you."

"That makes sense." James nodded. Sirius could see James's thinking face started to form again.

"That face means something." Sirius commented.

"Yes, I'm thinking, that's what is means."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Getting you to come and stay with us for a few weeks."

"Any ideas?"

"No, but I'll think of something maybe dad has ideas."

"Your father always has ideas." Sirius chuckled.

The next morning Sirius woke up early, he felt confident that he would pass his Defense test with out a hitch. Whistling a tune he walked down into the common room where he would wait for James to finally get moving.

"Can't you put the volume down a bit?" Somebody snapped from the corner of the room. Sirius whirled around to see the red head sitting hunched over a pile of books.

"Good morning to you too, Evans."

"I said keep it down." She snapped again.

Sirius looked at the red headed girl, she looked so tired, dark blue rings formed around her eyes and she was very pale. Her head was resting on her hand as her eyes franticly skimmed over the pages in front of her.

"Have you had any sleep at all this week?"

"As if you care."

"No, not really but I know you care about your grades and you won't get any good ones when you fall asleep during the test."

"I can sleep tomorrow." She snapped.

"O..kay, I won't bother you than." Sirius said as moved to the sofa. He laid down and twirled his wand, going over some spells in his head. As he memorized the defensive spells he went over the wand movement that accompanied them. He muttered the words as he moved his wand, not really paying attention to it.

"Sirius Black!" Lily Evans suddenly yelled.

"What?" he said as he scrambled up.

"What? What?" Lily hissed, "This is what!"

She held up a book that looked burned.

"You lit the book on fire, you jerk!" Lily yelled again effectively waking up the rest of Gryffindor house.

"I didn't do it on purpose."

"Oh hell, you didn't! You git." Lily snapped and picked up her stuff. With angry long steps she left the common room.

"What happened?" a sleepy voice behind him asked.

"Nothing, she accused me of setting her book on fire. She probable did it herself as she fell asleep."

"You should be nice to Evans." James said seriously.

"Why?"

"Because one day your best friend is going to marry that girl."

Sirius broke out in a roar of laughter but James kept looking at the portrait hole, he looked serious. Throughout the day Sirius kept chuckling about James's comment. He told Remus about James's comment but somehow Remus seemed more interested in the book that was laying in front of him, annoyed Sirius turned to his food, piercing the sausage with more force than necessary.

Defense did go perfectly, the theory was much more easy than he expected and once James jinxed Sirius for laughing at him again, he calmed down enough to do the practical part of the test. He was sure he got an outstanding for the whole exam.

The rest of their school year was a blissful time off, James, Remus and Sirius spend most of their time learning Peter the proper spells for creating confetti out of nothing or making quills explode in glitters and confetti or turn into something slimy but they also taught him a few curses.

Especially Sirius was hoping that Peter would be useful for jinxing Slytherins as he was the weaker part of the group and an easy target for Slytherins. He would draw the Slytherins bullies to him and if Peter was able to jinx, hex and protect himself he could do some good for Sirius's cause.

They did spend some good time harassing Snivellus or any other Slytherin for that matter, letting Peter practice and when he would need help Sirius or James would step in. Somehow, somewhere, Remus had grown morals and wasn´t for constant harassment. Sirius didn´t care, Remus was a good friend if he wanted to join the harassing or not but mostly Remus watched from a distance, only stepping in when he thought he needed to.

The last evening at school James and Sirius made confetti fly all around the great hall during the feast. Not one of the teachers bothered to tell them off for it, Sirius had the feeling that the teachers didn't mind it that much.

"We need better things." He mumbled.

"What do you mean?" James asked with his mouth full.

"Confetti isn't really impressive, we need something better."

"Yes, I was thinking along the same lines."

"Any good ideas?"

"No, not yet, we'll think if something for next year."

The next morning Sirius woke up very moody, he was feeling depressed and sad. His normal mischievous grin was now a mask of calm but nothing more than a mask. He had to work very hard to keep up the pretences, he didn't want to so how much he hated that he had to return to Grimmauld place. The one useful thing he learned from his mother was not to show emotions and that emotions aren't worth to be recognized, it made him able to just feel nothing, to face anything without any real emotion.

He honestly didn't fear going back and facing his family, he was their eldest son so they wouldn't really hurt him but he knew that this summer was going to be difficult. He was now a Gryffindor and proud to be it but he knew he was going have to defend it, that important part of himself. He also knew that his mother would want him to stay away from Regulus, so any fun this summer would be limited, his only hope was the James would come up with something good and save him.

"Cheer up, mate." James said with a big smile.

"Easy for you to say." Sirius grumbled.

"Look I'll ask dad for a 'Sirius-rescue-mission' he'll think of something."

"I sure hope so."

"And we'll write, a lot." Remus promised.


End file.
